Film at Lincoln Center President Lesli Klainberg revealed that Hernandez will be promoted to Executive Director of the New York Film Festival and Senior Vice President of Film at Lincoln Center. He will also continue to lead the organization’s strategic initiatives, including his role as publisher of Film Comment. Hernandez was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of IndieWire, building this site over nearly 15 years as it became the leading editorial publication for independent and international films, filmmakers, industry, and audiences....

“Obi-Wan Kenobi” has wrapped its run on Disney+, delivering plenty of well-received nostalgia and some redemption for George Lucas’ prequel trilogy. But following the limited series’ conclusion, which saw a fan-favorite cameo from Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn many fans had a question: Where was Yoda? The two Jedis had a close relationship in both the original and prequel trilogies, so the iconic character’s absence was curious to some. In a new interview with “The Jess Cagle Show” (via ComicBook....

Regardless of awards, Gomez brought Mabel into a new world with Season 2. Mabel doesn’t really know who she is and that derisive armor is starting to crack. Gomez still plays the character as tough and perceptive, but Mabel’s also still grieving a lot of the demons in her life, while also trying to solve a murder mystery and clear her name. It’s intense stuff. Here’s five reasons we’re loving Selena Gomez’s performance in Season 2....

“Robin Robin” is a 30-minute holiday short about how our differences make us stronger, created and directed by Dan Ojari and Mikey Please (BAFTA winner for “The Eagleman Stag”). It’s surely the favorite, as the Academy obviously adores Aardman. It’s about a charmingly awkward bird with an identity crisis, who is adopted into a loving family of burglar mice, which plans an ambitious heist to bag an entire sandwich. “The Windshield Wiper,” directed by Alberto Mielgo (the Emmy-winning short, “The Witness,” from “Love, Death & Robots”), concerns a middle-aged man who sits in a cafe and ponders the meaning of love....

Box-office metrics are irrelevant; streamers sparingly share data. Academy members were a distracted lot, and some confess they were watching more politics and escapist TV than movies. “I’m not sure they sampled as wide a selection as the press,” said one veteran publicist who is in touch with members. When they did watch movies at home, they didn’t always stay glued start to finish. For filmmakers fussing over suspenseful editing patterns, Dolby sound levels, and color corrections, this is not good....

But maybe the hardest thing for “Panic” to center is the idea of just how many people are willing to risk anything short of (and maybe even including) potential manslaughter charges in order for the premise of this show to work. With all 10 episodes written by Lauren Oliver (who wrote the book the series is based on), each episode becomes like one of the Panic challenges: a tricky psychological balancing act that means far more to the people involved than the people watching....

We keep updating these predictions through the awards season, so keep checking IndieWire for all our 2023 Oscar picks. Nominations voting is from January 12 to January 17, 2023, with official Oscar nominations announced on January 24, 2023. The final voting is March 2 through 7, 2023. And finally, the 95th Oscars telecast will be broadcast on Sunday, March 12 and air live on ABC at 8:00 p.m. ET/ 5:00 p....